


Nickname

by RadMo



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 17:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9396083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadMo/pseuds/RadMo
Summary: "It shouldn’t have—it really shouldn’t have—but the nickname caught her off-guard, like the first droplet of rain before a storm."Maggie calls Alex by a nickname, and Alex remembers something.





	

**Author's Note:**

> If you’ve read my Vicky Donahue related fics, you knew this was coming. If you haven’t read my Vicky Donahue related fics, just know that I draw on them a little bit in this one. You don’t have to read those pieces to get this fic, but I would love you forever if you did.

It happened when they were sitting together on Maggie’s couch, wearing pajamas and eating just-slightly-burnt popcorn while watching _Shutter Island_ on Maggie’s small TV. 

Maggie said it so casually, reaching toward the coffee table— 

“Hey Al—want your beer?”

And it shouldn’t have—it really shouldn’t have—but the nickname caught her off-guard, like the first droplet of rain before a storm.

The feeling of it flickered across her face before she could stop it. It must have been near imperceptible—a tiny movement of her eyebrow, a twitching at the corner of her lip.

But Maggie noticed. Because Maggie always noticed.

“Hey,” she breathed, cocking her head. When Alex didn’t reply she leaned forward and paused the movie before turning back to Alex.

“Hey…. What was that?” she probed, her voice low and sweet. She shifted closer to Alex on the couch, gazing intently into her eyes, wordlessly seeking permission to touch her. Alex gave a quick nod, and she reached for her knee, rubbing a thumb over her skin.

 “Do you not like ‘Al?’ I mean, I know you hate—“

“No, no.” Alex reassured her, raising her hand to rub nervously at her neck and averting her gaze. “I, uh…”

She paused, staring resolutely at their beer bottles, sitting half-finished on the coffee table. 

“It’s just… It’s been a while. Since someone last called me that.”

Her mouth started to go dry and she swallowed. She felt Maggie’s dark eyes on her, and she knew how comforting they would be. How warm. But she couldn’t bring herself to meet them. Instead, she shook her head slightly as her own gaze drifted upward to the ceiling.

She let out a humorless puff of laughter, but it did little to relieve the tight sensation gripping her chest.

“…Old flame…?” Maggie asked after a beat, seeming to know that Alex couldn’t say it herself. 

Another puff. She closed her eyes and her eyebrows knit together.

“I…. Yeah. No? I just…” She turned to Maggie at last and smiled, her face open, honest. “I don’t know….”

Maggie cocked her head again with a sympathetic smile. “It’s okay, Alex, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Alex closed her eyes, and she felt her heart being pulled toward Maggie, wanting her, wanting to be so _close_ to her. 

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she said after a moment, looking back to Maggie. “It’s just that I’ve never… I-I’ve never really known what to think about it, you know?”

“About what?” Maggie rubbed Alex’s knee with her thumb again.

Alex took a deep breath.

“Vicky Donahue…?” Alex finally said the name, and it came out like a question, her voice lifting and wavering as if it were pushed out of her by an unexpected burst of air.

“Ohhh,” Maggie said, her own voice lilting as her mouth stretched into a radiant grin. She let out a little laugh, looked down and then back up at Alex, her eyes sparkling. “Of course,” she said knowingly.

Alex’s smile broadened too even as she winced, wrinkling her nose. She would have been exasperated with the way Maggie so easily, so effortlessly caught on, but, _dammit_ , her heart was giddy with relief and— _god, her beautiful face_.

“Yeah.” She let out a shaky sigh. “She called me Al. She uh… was a friend. Back in high school.”

“Just a friend…?” Maggie pushed gently.

Alex bit her lip and looked at Maggie, almost pleadingly before shrugging and shaking her head.

“Of course not.”

Maggie’s eyes urged her on.

“Of course not.” She repeated, louder this time. “God….”

She swallowed.

“After you said what you said about me being gay, back before…everything…”—she smiled at the thought—“I started thinking about things… a lot. My past—you know—with girls. With… women.”

Maggie nodded kindly. “We’ve all been there.”

Another deep breath. 

“Anyway,” she continued, “Vicky… she wasn’t the only girl I had a crush on growing up, I’ve realized. But…” Nervous again, Alex’s fingers toyed with the drawstring of the hoodie she had borrowed from Maggie. “She was probably the closest I ever came to realizing.”

“Did she kiss you?” Maggie asked.

“Oh god, no.” Alex laughed, the _absurdity_ of the question somehow putting her at ease. “Are you kidding? I would have _died_.”

Maggie flashed another grin. 

“Yeah, I can see that,” she teased.

“Hey!” Alex elbowed her in the ribs, and Maggie let out an indignant— _adorable_ —little shout.

“No, she didn’t kiss me,” Alex said as they settled back in. “But she was… she was so smart.” Alex looked away from Maggie, back up toward the ceiling for a moment. “And she had this great, deadpan sense of humor that not everyone got. But _I_ got it and she loved that I got it.”

Maggie hummed encouragingly.

Alex smiled. “And she had this… this coppery hair and these bright blue eyes…. And it made me furious when boys fawned over her. I never knew why—I mean, I do now—but I always tried to convince myself that I was jealous that I wasn’t as pretty as she was….” 

“Oh, _Alex_ ….”

Maggie’s reaction emboldened her.

“We fought a lot senior year. I always thought it was because I didn’t like her boyfriend. And because she didn’t like mine. And because we were afraid of what would happen when we left for college. But really....” she took a breath, faltering. “I think it was… uh… because of the way she, uh… touched me… when I slept over at her house.”

“Oh—” Maggie said, eyes widening.

“Oh, no, no,” Alex assured her. “Not like that. It was… innocent. I don’t know—I thought it was, then. She would touch my arms, my legs. And I would do it too. It just… it felt… it felt nice.” 

She bit her lip again. 

“But one time it felt… too nice. And… I don’t know. I got scared and… and that was it.” 

She looked back at Maggie to see her eyes fixed on her, bright with tenderness and something deeper that Alex couldn’t place.

They sat in silence for a beat.

“I felt a lot for her, Maggie.” Alex said finally. “I… I really, really liked her. And it’s hard that I’m only realizing that now, but…." 

She let out a shuddering breath, relief rushing through her.

“It feels… good. It feels good to say it out loud.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They were quiet for another long moment, simply gazing at one another. Then Maggie squeezed her knee.

“Maybe you should look her up sometime,” she said, moving closer to Alex now, leaning her head against her shoulder. “I know feels scary, but trust me—it feels good to acknowledge stuff like that. Especially when it ended badly. She might be wanting it too.”

Alex leaned back into Maggie, breathing deep and closing her eyes. She could smell Maggie’s shampoo—lavender.

Feeling bold, she reached for Maggie’s hand and held it in hers. She felt warm. Safe.

“Maybe I will.”

She paused.

“I…I think I like it.”

“You like what?"

“You calling me Al.”

When Maggie didn’t respond, Alex glanced down at where Maggie’s head still rested on her shoulder. Her eyes were closed, but a gentle smile played on her lips.

“Can I call you Mags?” she pressed on, voice quiet, hopeful. 

Maggie’s smile stretched into another grin, all dimples and white teeth.

“Like you even have to ask.”

Warm exhilaration swooped through Alex’s chest.

“Well, okay then, Mags.”

Maggie lifted her head from Alex’s shoulder, still beaming, before leaning in and kissing her so softly, so slowly that Alex’s whole body thrummed like a vibrating string.

The moment passed, and they parted, Maggie resting her forehead against Alex’s.

“Okay then, Al.”

**Author's Note:**

> Quite frankly, this was a self-indulgent way for me to practice capturing how Alex and Maggie talk to each other, as well as some of their mannerisms. Hope that came across. I was a bit nervous to write Maggie at first, but then I realized that she’s just the ideal listener, so it was easy from there. 
> 
> If Sanvers turns you into a puddle of emotions let’s be friends. I’m RadMo on tumblr.


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